76 Our Araby 



tion is rapid, and shade may be depended on to 

 yield coolness. 



Naturally, with this condition, such a thing as 

 fog is unknown. The sea-fogs of the coast are 

 blocked by the high barrier of mountains (though 

 in any case they very seldom reach so far inland as 

 that.) Once last summer, indeed, by some meteoro- 

 logical freak, a fog which, probably, originated in 

 the Gulf of California, did for an hour or two 

 invade Our Araby, but it ranks as a phenomenon. 

 Dew also is a rarity, even with our clear night skies, 

 so that sleepers-out may safely ignore the risk of 

 damp. 



As for wind, such affairs as sand-storms are not 

 unknown, but they seldom occur, and are not to 

 be thought of as the kind of thing that overwhelms 

 travellers in the Sahara. Some discomfort may be 

 entailed, and, to housewives, some work afterwards 

 with broom and duster; but beyond that a Palm 

 Springs sand-storm amounts to a very mild adven- 

 ture. Backed against friendly old San Jacinto, we 

 are shielded from the worst assaults of the wind- 

 demon, and we often learn with surprise from some 

 one arriving in the village that there has been a 

 "blow" on the unsheltered levels only a few miles 

 away. 



From what has been said above it will be gath- 

 ered that Palm Springs offers special advantages 

 to persons suffering from certain ailments. For 

 many years physicians have been sending patients 



